Happy 100th Day of School San Francisco!
by YourSFPublicSchools Team ~ January 27th, 2012
In mid-August, children from all over San Francisco began the school year. Among them were a group of youngsters entering kindergarten at Yick Wo School in San Francisco. Today is the 100th Day of School in the San Francisco Unified School District. For over a month now, 5 and 6 year olds have been working on projects, counting out in groups of tens, and using the words “One hundred” to describe just about everything. If you are the parent or grandparent of a kindergartener, you know what I mean.
For weeks teachers, students, and families have been counting down the days until this year’s celebration. For grandparents and parents alike, it is a time when we are invited into the schools to enter into the celebration. For those who are lucky enough to be in town, the celebration is already underway. For those of us grandparents who are at a distance, we still can enjoy the celebration from afar. What happens during the first 100 days of Kindergarten? What kinds of projects and learning has been taking place? Why may you have heard your kindergarteners using 100 in just about everything they describe lately? If you didn’t realize how special this day is throughout the City, here is some information to help enlighten you on what’s happening throughout San Francisco today.
This year the school year began in mid-August, shortly after my granddaughter had turned 5. The excitement leading up to that day was full of anticipation, questions about how things would go, and a little anxiety of the unknown...and that’s just on the part of parents and grandparents. “Is she old enough?” “Will he be able to fit in?” “Will he miss us too much?” “How are we going to wake her up in the morning?” After the first few days of school, those questions were replaced by others, and for the most part, our children and grandchildren thoroughly embraced the new environment and were thrilled with all the time playing and making new friends. After the first few weeks in our home, we found it hard to get her to come home at the end of the day...she was having the time of her life.
When visiting my granddaughter’s school, Yick Wo, one of the first things we heard about was the 100th day of school. “You’re invited to the 100th day of School,” so I realized this was going to be one of the highlights of the year. Over the Christmas break, my granddaughter and I spent a lot of time together, and we talked a lot about numbers and counting to ten and beyond. I noticed that when describing anything from one’s age to the size of a large building, she would use the number 100 in her description. We began talking and counting things by the 10s and 100s. The school work that she brought home, and some of her homework, included learning about number concepts and the unit of 100.